What difficulties do people who are learning French generally encounter? In what sense can we say that French is not as difficult as it seems?
Why are
Many students mention the existence of "false friends" as one of the difficulties of learning French. For example, for a French person, "confetti" refers to the small paper pieces thrown in the air during carnival, whereas for an Italian, it refers to sweets offered during a wedding.
Across the Channel, "affair" refers to a love story, while "affaires" refers to the professional world in our language. Similarly, the English word "habit" has nothing to do with clothing!
Gender of nouns is also one of the most questioned topics for learners. For example, you know that words ending in -age are masculine (un garage, un langage, un fromage, …), but because there are many exceptions (une image, une page, une nage, …), one can quickly get confused!
In addition to the use of "vous" and "tu," which is an additional difficulty for English speakers, numbers above sixty are perfect for making life impossible for beginners! As in Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland, wouldn't it be easier to use "septante" and "nonante" rather than "soixante-dix" and "quatre-vingt-dix"?
The pronunciation of French words is often considered one of the factors that increases the difficulty of learning. Some sounds, like nasal vowels, are rare in other languages. As for words of English origin (square, clown, cowboy, …), their French version significantly deviates from the original pronunciation!
To complicate things further, not all letters are pronounced in the French language. This is the case with the "p" in the verb "compter," the "m" in "automne," etc. And what about digraphs such as "gn", "ym", "oi" found in "oignon," "thym," and "oiseau"?
French pronunciation is not as complex as that of tonal languages like Mandarin. As for Xhosa, an official South African language, it uses clicks made with the tongue and teeth!
Know that in French, there are precise rules for the pronunciation of the word "plus" and for liaison.
In fact, learning a language does not require mastering all its subtleties perfectly! The goal should be communication with others. The main thing is to understand others, perform concrete tasks, and acquire skills even at the cost of mistakes and hesitation. Don't be discouraged by your accent! As long as you remain intelligible to native speakers, your accent will not be considered a hindrance.
In summary, take risks, be bold, and dare to speak in public.
False friends are not inevitable and prove that languages are closely related: Indo-European languages and Romance languages like Portuguese, French, and Italian have real similarities. When we ask whether it is more difficult to learn English thanFrench, we must not forget that the alphabet is the same for French and English speakers.
The only difference lies in the existence of accents (acute, grave, and circumflex) as well as the presence of the cedilla and the diaeresis. The Foreign ServiceInstitute, a world-renowned institution, also specifies that French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian are among the "closely related" languages to English.
Have you noticed that many words are common to both languages in various fields such as gastronomy and fashion? " Soufflé", "purée", "omelette", "sommelier", "baguette", "crème brûlée", but also "béret", "corset", or "chic" are indeed well-known Gallicisms.
But how long does it take to learn French?
The FSI estimates that an English speaker needs between 600 and 750 hours, at 25 hours per week, to reach a B2 to C1 level.
Courses in France are a great opportunity to practice French every day with a native teacher, as well as with local people and other students. Your motivation will be greatly improved because you will learn practical skills for everyday life. By immersing yourself in French culture, your learning will seem enjoyable, and you will forget about the difficulties.
However, don't be too ambitious and be patient before you can speak like a native speaker. Set yourself a weekly goal and dedicate a minimum amount of time to speaking practice, homework, and the vocabulary studied in class.
